Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
What are Ruby Blocks?
3.
Block Syntax in Ruby
3.1.
Inline
3.2.
Multi-line
4.
Ruby yield statement
5.
BEGIN and END block
6.
What is an Ampersand parameter (&block)?
7.
What is Lambda?
8.
Frequently Asked Questions
8.1.
Why do we use blocks in Ruby?
8.2.
What are Ruby lambdas?
8.3.
What is a singleton class in Ruby?
8.4.
Define yield in Ruby?
8.5.
What is meta class in Ruby?
9.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024
Easy

Block Syntax in Ruby

Author ANKIT MISHRA
0 upvote
Career growth poll
Do you think IIT Guwahati certified course can help you in your career?

Introduction

Ruby on Rails or simply Ruby is a full-stack web application framework that employs the MVC paradigm to create web pages, web services, and database-driven applications. Data is exchanged between services in the form of JSON and XML. It provides you the tools you need to build scalable frontend and backend web apps. We will learn about all of these features in this tutorial, including rendering HTML templates, CRUD operations in databases, e-mails, live pages, WebSockets, task scheduling, and excellent online security. Today, we'll discuss Block syntax in Ruby. Let's start the discussion.

Must Recommended Topic, procedure call in compiler design

What are Ruby Blocks?

Closures are the name given to Ruby code blocks in other programming languages. It is made up of a set of codes that are always wrapped by braces or written between do..end. The do..end syntax always takes precedence over the brackets syntax. Do has low precedence, and braces have high precedence.

There are two ways to write a block:

  • Inline between braces 
  • Multi-line between doing and end (multi-line blocks are not inline)

Both are identical and, also perform the same functions. 

Block Syntax in Ruby

Inline

name_off_block{  
  statement1  
  statement2
  ....
  ....
 Statement n
  ..........  
}  

Multi-line

[10,20,30].each do |number|
 puts number
end

Ruby yield statement

A block inside a method is called with a value using the yield statement. In other words, Whenever you use the yield keyword, then the code inside the block will run & perform its work.

def myFunc   
   puts "It is a method"   
   yield   
   puts "You will be redirected back to a method"   
   yield   
end   
myFunc {puts "This is block"}  

When we reach the yield line during the execution of the myFunc method, the code inside the block is executed. Code for the myFunc method is continued after the block execution is completed.

BEGIN and END block

To indicate that a file is loading and has finished loading, respectively, Ruby's BEGIN and END blocks are utilized to do so.

BEGIN {  
 puts "This code block is getting loaded"  
}  
 
END {  
 puts "This code block has been loaded completely."  
}  
puts "It is the code block."  

What is an Ampersand parameter (&block)?

A reference to the block can be passed to a method by using the &block keyword in place of a local variable.

The block word following the & in this instance is basically a name for the reference; any other name may be substituted for it.

def myFunct(&block)  
 puts "It is method"  
 block.call  
end  
myFunc { puts "It is a &block example" }   

What is Lambda?

A lambda is a particular syntax that can be used to define a block and its parameters.

This lambda can be stored in a variable for later usage.

The following is the syntax for defining a Ruby lambda:

my_Lambda_Func= -> { puts "This is a lambda" }

Defining a lambda won't make your code run inside it, just like defining a method won't make the method run. You need to use the call method for that.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do we use blocks in Ruby?

Blocks, which resemble closures, have been a feature of the Ruby language since its beginning. When used correctly, they can minimize repetition and even make coding less prone to errors.

What are Ruby lambdas?

A lambda is an object in Ruby that is comparable to a proc. A lambda returns to its calling procedure rather than exiting immediately, and unlike a proc, it needs a particular amount of arguments supplied to it.

What is a singleton class in Ruby?

A creational design pattern called singleton makes sure that there is only one object of its sort and gives all other code a single point of access to it.

Define yield in Ruby?

The Ruby keyword yield enables developers to provide arguments to blocks from the yield; there are no restrictions on the number of arguments that can be passed to a block.

What is meta class in Ruby?

Ruby automatically constructs a class to house just that function when you declare a singleton method on an object.

Conclusion

In this article, we have extensively discussed the Block Syntax in Ruby, and various other ways to implement the Block in Ruby.

After reading about Blocks in Ruby, are you not feeling excited to read/explore more articles on the topic of Ruby? To learn Ruby see Ruby DocumentationRuby By Coding NinjasRuby Documentation-BlockRuby FAQ, and Ruby Archives.
Check out this problem - Redundant Braces

Do upvote our blogs if you find them helpful and engaging!

Happy Learning!

Live masterclass